The SAP authorization concept
Analyzing the quality of the authorization concept - Part 1
This advanced functionality of the transaction SU53 is delivered via a patch. Please refer to SAP Note 1671117 for more information on the required support packages and technical background. Unsuccessful permission checks are now written to a ring buffer of the application server's Shared Memories. This will allow you to view failed permission checks in Web Dynpro applications or other user interfaces, which was not previously possible. Depending on the size of the ring buffer and system usage, up to 100 failed permissions checks per user can be displayed for the last three hours. The size of the ring buffer is calculated from the number of defined work processes. By default, 100 permission checks can be saved per workprocess. You can adjust this size using the auth/su53_buffer_entries profile parameter.
In addition to defining permissions for external RFC access through the S_RFC authorization object, it is possible to prevent external calls to function blocks. From SAP Net-Weaver AS ABAP 7.40 there is the additional SAP Unified Connectivity (UCON) layer. It controls external access to RFC function blocks independently of users or roles and can be configured to suit your needs. All function modules that are to be executable via RFC are entered into the UCON Communication Assembly. If a function block is not stored there, the call will be blocked. UCON has been designed to minimise impact on RFC call performance. The necessary function blocks are identified in the UCON Phase Tool (transaction UCONPHTL), which constantly monitors all external RFC calls and supports an introduction of the UCON Communication Assembly. This allows calls to new function blocks (such as custom developments, support package changes) to be analysed and, if necessary, released for external access. In addition, UCON offers the possibility to review the configuration in an evaluation phase. There are approximately 40,000 RFC-enabled function blocks in an ERP system; Usually no more than a few hundred of them are used. With the use of UCON you therefore increase the security of your system.
Make sense in maintaining proposal values
You can use your own authorization objects to develop permission checks to authorise your custom applications or extend default permissions. So far, the maintenance of the authorization objects has been very unmanageable. Authorization objects can be displayed and recreated in the transaction SU21. Creating authorization objects over this transaction has not been very user-friendly. If the input was not done correctly, the dialogue was sometimes not transparent and confusing for the user. The same was true for storing a authorization object. Several pop-up windows indicate further care activities. Another problem is that the proof of use of the authorization object is limited to finding implementations of the authorization object. However, authorization objects are also used in other places, such as suggestion value maintenance and permission maintenance. Another problem is the use of namespaces. For SAPartner who want to maintain their permission checks in their namespaces, the classic name rooms, starting with J, are used up.
When configuring the Security Audit Log, you must consider the storage of the files. At least one separate file is created for each day. When the maximum size of all files for the tag is reached, additional events are stopped. So you should always adjust the maximum size of the file to your needs using the parameters rsau/max_diskspace/per_file and rsau/max_diskspace/per_day. The rsau/max_diskspace/local parameter is obsolete in this case, but remains active if the other two parameters are not maintained.
During go-live, the assignment of necessary authorizations is particularly time-critical. The "Shortcut for SAP systems" application provides functions for this purpose, so that the go-live does not get bogged down because of missing authorizations.
If the standard objects do not meet the desired requirements, the programmer can create his own authorization objects that contain the required authorization fields.
The website www.sap-corner.de offers a lot of useful information about SAP authorizations.
We therefore describe a possibility that you can use in all scenarios.